Abstract
Some recent studies on experimental micromechanics of composites by the authors were summarized. One is an in-situ scanning acoustic microscopy using a high number-of-aperture lens to detect the initiation and growth of transverse cracks and delamination in CFRP cross-ply laminates. Novel micromechanical damage evolution models were established to explain the experimental results. The other is an in-situ scanning electron microscopy using micro-lines or grids printed on the laminate specimen edge to visualize microscopic deformation and damage near the transverse crack tip. Temperature dependence of the interlaminar shear deformation and the axial crack opening displacement was obtained, and also predicted successively by a micromechanical model considering thermal residual stresses. Such experimental micromechanical approaches provide a reasonable basis for establishing the damage tolerance design of composites.
